


The Happy Fairy Princess Cafe

by astrangerenters



Category: Arashi (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Awkward Flirting, Dessert & Sweets, Fluff, Friendship, Humor, M/M, Princes & Princesses, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-07
Updated: 2017-03-07
Packaged: 2018-09-30 08:04:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 17,868
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10158218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astrangerenters/pseuds/astrangerenters
Summary: In between jobs, Sho agrees to help out at the cafe where his friend works. But his friend fails to mention that he will be expected to do a lot more than just wait tables.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Shoutout to the Arashi Sweets Club!

“Look for the castle,” Nino had said.

Sho, of course, thought that his friend had been joking. Nino was a joking sort of person. But on this rare occasion, he’d been absolutely accurate.

Sakurai Sho found himself standing before a storefront in a bustling area not far from Ikebukuro Station. But this was no ordinary storefront. Instead of simple plate-glass, maybe a logo, the entire front wall gave the appearance of weathered gray stone. The front door was painted to resemble a sturdy iron gate. But despite those overtly imposing design choices, the cafe’s name was elegantly written out in English script on the door.

_The Happy Fairy Princess Cafe_

He shook his head, still not quite believing he’d ended up in this situation. But it was better than nothing, and he took a deep breath for courage, marching up to the door and pulling it open. Given its appearance, Sho used a little more force than necessary, almost stumbling back when the door opened quite easily.

It was even more remarkable on the inside. The interior walls were painted to resemble the same gray stone on the outside and the corners of the cafe had thick columns that reached the ceiling, each of them painted gray as well and meant to resemble a castle’s turrets. The attention and care that had gone into the cafe’s design was admirable, he thought. 

The cafe’s waiting area was on a lower level, carpeted in green to resemble an open field and ringed with wooden benches for waiting guests. The host stand was another small castle turret. Standing behind it was a tall, slim man with a friendly face and dyed brown hair. Sho tried not to laugh at how proud he looked standing there, dressed in a costume that was dominated by a bold green jacket adorned with yellow fleurs-de-lis. He wore it over a blue waistcoat and silky blue cravat. His tight tan trousers were tucked into a pair of knee-high brown boots, and a thin sword hung suspended from a belt around his waist.

The man’s smile was almost as bright as his jacket. “You must be Sakurai-san!”

Sho inclined his head politely. “Sakurai Sho, nice to meet you.”

“Ninomi said you’d be right on time.” The man broke the illusion of his character, pulling his phone from the pocket of his trousers, nodding. “Exactly 10 AM.”

The man stepped forward, shoving his phone back in his pocket and holding out his hand for Sho to shake. “Aiba Masaki, although around here you can call me…” He jumped back suddenly, getting into a fighting stance and pulling his sword free from his belt. He waved it around with an elaborate flourish before pointing it at Sho. “…Prince Masaki!”

Sho gulped in surprise. It wasn’t every day someone pointed a prop sword at him. Sho looked a bit closer. Correction. _Not_ a prop sword.

“That’s a real rapier, isn’t it?”

Aiba-san nodded, settling it back by his side. “All the weaponry here is real, for authenticity’s sake, but we cap the ends if a guest is involved in any way. Anyhow, Ninomi will be here soon to help with your costume. In the mean time, let me give you the grand tour.”

Sho, now feeling quite underdressed in his wool coat, sweater, and jeans, followed Aiba away from the customer waiting area. Opposite the host stand was a pair of two changing stalls with heavy floor-length curtains. Aiba explained that the “Princesses” were allowed to change into costumes they’d brought from home or utilize items management stored here to customize their look. Tiaras and crowns, capes, long skirts made of tulle or cheap fabric.

Leaving the lower level, they climbed up a thick wooden ramp that resembled a drawbridge, with two iron chains connected to the ramp attached to hooks on the restaurant ceiling. Beneath the ramp the green carpet ended and a strip of blue began, serving as the “moat” around the castle proper. Once up the ramp, they were in the main cafe area. Tables with taut white tablecloths ringed the room, which was meant to resemble the castle’s courtyard. The tables sat on gray carpet with a stone-like design. 

In the center of the room was the gray tiled “arena,” Aiba explained. Here was where the Princes performed, whatever that meant. Aiba explained things in such a nonchalant way that Sho had to keep asking him to repeat himself.

“I’m sorry, what do you mean by ‘the routine’?” Sho asked nervously.

Aiba stopped in the middle of the arena, posing proudly with his hands on his hips. “Ninomi didn’t tell you about the routine?”

Nino hadn’t told him much at all, come to think of it…

Aiba smiled, shaking his head. “He’s such a jerk! Anyhow.” Aiba stomped on the floor with his boot emphatically. “We sing the Happy Fairy Princess song, all of us, at the top of the hour. There’s a dance with it, but it’s really easy.”

Sho froze, the color draining from his face.

“What exactly _did_ Nino tell you?”

—

It had been three months since Sho’s company had been bought out by the large Chinese conglomerate and two months since Sho had been informed that his employment was being terminated. Accounting wasn’t the most glamorous job in the world, but for more than 10 years it had paid the bills. He’d been good at his job, rising to middle management level with responsibilities for a handful of accounts. But experience and good work didn’t always guarantee permanence.

He had only two more months of severance pay due to him, but his job hunt had so far been unsuccessful, even though he’d had a few interviews. Most companies in the area were looking to hire lower-paid entry-level positions. Someone like Sho with so many years of experience had fewer paths available unless he was willing to take a considerable pay cut. And he was very unwilling. He’d worked too hard to not get paid what he was truly worth.

It was likely that more job openings would start popping up soon come springtime, but for now he kept striking out. He’d apparently been fated to bump into an old high school friend while waiting in line at a coffee shop to buy himself a pity donut.

His kohai, Ninomiya Kazunari, had claimed that he had the perfect opportunity to help Sho out. The price for the information? “You’re gonna have to buy me a donut today, senpai,” Nino had said with that familiar twinkle in his eye. Very little had changed about Nino since high school, including his powerful ability to make people want to take care of him, even though he was now 33 and a grown man.

But Sho, who was already starting to make changes to his monthly household budget, had obliged and bought the donut. He’d sat and listened as Nino explained that he worked as a server for a themed cafe, The Happy Fairy Princess Cafe, where he wore a costume and served sugary desserts to Princesses of all ages. It was similar to the butler and muscle man cafes that had popped up in Tokyo of late, but this one was designed to make any girl or woman feel like a princess for a day.

It just so happened that one of the “Princes” on the cafe roster, Prince Toma, had just had an emergency appendectomy two days earlier. Though he’d be coming home from the hospital soon, he was definitely advised against any vigorous activity for the next few weeks and was not supposed to be on his feet if he didn’t have to be. 

So there was a temporary opening at the cafe that would let Sho bring in some money while he kept up his job hunt. The cafe was open six days a week for limited lunch and dinner service hours, closed on Mondays. The schedule would be flexible for a job seeker, since they didn’t open until noon each day, leaving Sho’s mornings free. Sho had waited tables for extra money during college. Of course that had been almost fifteen years ago, but he supposed it would be easy enough to get back into the swing of things.

“You don’t have a problem wearing a costume, do you?” Nino had asked.

“Depends on the costume.”

Nino had laughed. “Well, you get a sword to go with it.”

He and Nino had been in the kendo club in high school, so Sho let that guide his decision. Waiting tables in a costume? Addressing customers as “Your Highness”? That seemed easy enough. When Sho asked if he might be a little old to be a “Prince,” Nino assured him that they had staff of all ages and that the Princesses were the ones to choose who they wanted as their server since they could make a reservation online if they wished.

“You’re good-looking, Sho-san, I don’t think you’ll go un-picked,” Nino teased him.

When he finished his donut, Nino had called up Ohno-san, the cafe’s owner, saying he had a replacement for Prince Toma all ready to go. The owner hadn’t even found it necessary to talk to Sho. Apparently Nino’s approval was good enough.

“Come by tomorrow,” Nino said. “We’ll welcome you to our kingdom.”

—

So no, Nino really hadn’t told Sho everything that was expected of him. Serving food, Sho was good with that. Dressing up, Sho supposed he was fine with that. But Aiba was looking at him now with a nervous smile on his face.

“Every cafe has a gimmick these days,” Aiba explained slowly. “And ours is that we’re Princes.”

“Right.” Sho wasn’t a complete idiot.

“There’s more to it than just bringing a slice of cake to a table. There’s singing and dancing, like I just told you. And then of course, the action scenes…”

Sho raised an eyebrow. “Action scenes?”

The lights flickered and a noisy growl emitted from speakers that were cleverly hidden in each corner of the cafe. Sho jumped when the swinging rear doors he assumed led to the kitchen moved and a green…thing popped out of them.

“Rawr!” shouted the green thing as it prowled among the tables, coming out to the “arena” floor. “Rawrrrrrrrr!”

At that, Aiba smiled, gesturing for Sho to move out of the way. He did so in a hurry because already Aiba was drawing his sword. Instead of the friendly and cheerful man who’d been giving Sho a tour, Sho was now witnessing the arrival of the brave Prince Masaki. He held his sword aloft, pointing it at the green thing.

Now that the lights had stopped flickering, Sho had a better idea of what he was looking at. It was a human in a dragon costume. The costume’s head was elaborately designed with a gaping maw full of pointy teeth. Being human, the dragon was upright, holding out his green arms, the costume’s paws ending in equally pointy claws. The body of the costume seemed to be cloth but covered in dark metal scales that had likely been stitched onto it along with a pair of black wings. A long green tail trailed out from the seat of the costume, brushing along the floor as the dragon moved side to side around the arena, still growling.

What the hell was going on?

“You think I fear you?” Prince Masaki bragged, ready to swing his sword. “Begone from my kingdom, dragon!”

“Rawr!”

He listened a bit closer this time. For some reason, the dragon sounded almost…familiar. But Sho jumped back even more, bumping into one of the tables that ringed the arena floor when the action scene began. To add to the drama, some orchestral “battle music” came screaming out of the speakers.

In what seemed to be a tightly choreographed sequence, Sho watched as Prince Masaki and the dragon circled one another. Every few moments Prince Masaki would lunge forward with a swing of his very much real rapier and the dragon would lean away. And then the dragon would counter, roaring again and lashing out with his claws. Eventually the dragon turned, tail whipping around, and Prince Masaki brought his sword down where the tail met the dragon’s ass. To Sho’s surprise, it fell right off.

The dragon howled, picking the tail up in his arms and cradling it while Prince Masaki let out an overly exaggerated laugh.

“It seems I have defeated you, dragon! And if I ever see you here again, I’ll slice off your head next!”

The dragon lowered his head, almost looking sad. And that was when Aiba put his sword back, bowing to Sho with a flourish.

“And scene!” Aiba cheered.

Sho stood there, still confused, at least until the dragon set down his sliced off tail and instead moved his clawed paws to his head, tugging the thing off. Hair mussed and a little sweaty but otherwise smiling, Ninomiya Kazunari greeted Sho in a friendly voice, a far cry from his dragon noises.

“You made it!”

Sho said nothing.

Nino tucked the dragon head under his arm, cocking his head. “Sho-san, you alright?”

Sho held up a hand, just to gather his thoughts. Meanwhile, Aiba stepped across the arena floor, lifting up the dragon tail. Nino moved a little so that Aiba could latch it back on to him. Apparently Aiba’s strike was helped along, perhaps a switch inside Nino’s green clawed paw that detached the tail at the climax of the battle.

“Nino, when you said that I get a sword to go with my costume…” He saw Nino’s smile grow even bigger. “…maybe it would have been helpful to tell me that I’d actually be expected to use it.”

“The Princesses always laugh when I cut the tail off,” Aiba said needlessly, making sure the tail was back in its proper place.

“It’s only a few weeks, Sho-san, we’ll keep the choreography really easy for you. You won’t have to fight Stormy right away.”

“Stormy?” Sho wondered.

“That’s me, of course!” Nino bragged, wiggling his tail. He looked far less menacing than he had when he’d come into the room. “Stormy the Dragon, The Happy Fairy Princess Cafe’s best villain! Whom I proudly play six days a week.”

“You’re not a Prince?” Sho asked.

Aiba ruffled Nino’s messy hair. “That’s the Sunday storyline, actually! On Sundays, it’s revealed that Stormy is actually a Prince under a dark curse and a group of us teams up to free him from it. That’s when Prince Kazunari shows up.”

“The best looking Prince in the kingdom, you might say,” Nino said.

Aiba laughed, elbowing him. “Yeah right.”

“You’re saying I have to fight?” Sho squeaked out. “And sing and dance and…”

“We’ll teach you,” Nino assured him.

But Sho didn’t really want to fight. He didn’t want to act. He certainly didn’t know how to dance. He didn’t want to do anything but wait tables and have a bit more money to save as a cushion while he looked for permanent work. He really wished Nino had been more upfront about this whole business, because now Sho was probably going to inconvenience them when he backed out and…

The swinging doors moved again, and in walked a short man with a very calm expression, wearing chef’s whites. “Ah, this must be Sakurai-san?”

Before Sho could complain any further, he was introduced to his temporary boss, Ohno Satoshi, the cafe’s owner and head chef. He didn’t dress up as a Prince, choosing instead to manage the cafe’s kitchen where the cakes and cookies and other sweets were made.

“We really appreciate you stepping in to help while Toma-kun is resting,” Ohno said, unable to read Sho’s discomfort levels. He was soft-spoken but firm, telling Nino and Aiba to go get Sho’s costume ready while he continued the tour. 

Before Sho could say thanks but no thanks, Ohno-san was leading him through the swinging doors and into the rear of the cafe. The castle illusion disappeared. Directly past the doors was an archway that led to a staircase up to the second floor of the cafe. Ohno explained that there was a staff locker room up there to change into costume, an employee lounge, and the special effects room where music, sound, and lighting for the arena was managed.

Instead of going upstairs, Ohno led him into the kitchen here on the ground floor, introducing him to a handful of friendly men and women who were kneading dough and adding sprinkles to batter. The kitchen smelled absolutely divine, a mixture of sweet sugar and rich chocolate that made Sho’s stomach growl. He didn’t have the sweetest sweet tooth, but this place was truly dangerous.

Ohno showed him to a touchscreen panel where he could input the Princess’ order. Unlike Sho’s previous job waiting tables with a notepad and pen, the Princes were expected to memorize orders and input them in here away from the castle courtyard to keep up the fantasy of the devoted Prince tending to his Princess’ every whim.

“There’s a lot of customization on our menu,” Ohno explained, tapping through the options on the screen. “We’ve got thirty-four ice cream flavors, eight kinds of gelato, the various cakes, brownies, cheesecakes, cookies, and then there’s our topping bar that Shimizu-san manages.” Ohno gestured to a cheerful young woman who was slicing strawberries behind an elaborate counter. “Strawberries, several other types of fruit, nuts, chocolate chips, all that good stuff. We’ve got five flavors of whipped cream that we make in-house.”

There was a milkshake section of the menu as well with names like Magical Mint or Double Royal Chocolate Chunk. Those could be customized just as much, and already Sho’s head was spinning with the complexity of the menu. It would be difficult enough to take one Princess’ order…but he’d also have to memorize the orders of a table full of them. While the tables in the dining room had mostly been tables for two, there’d been a few booths that could definitely seat four. Sho imagined trying to memorize custom orders for four women while also being expected to sing and dance and sword fight and…

“Sakurai-san,” Ohno said gently, tugging him back into the corridor and away from the sound of noisy mixers and knives chopping. “Don’t be nervous, we’ll all help you out. We really appreciate you coming to fill in for our missing Prince.”

“I…I don’t know what Ninomiya-san told you, but I’ve never done anything like this before. I mean, I waited tables fifteen years ago but…”

Ohno lifted his hands, which had a bit of flour on them. When his hands pressed against Sho’s cheeks, he saw a little puff of white appear in the air around them. He blinked, staring down at his new boss.

“You’re going to be apprenticed to our number one requested Prince. With Toma out of action, he’s agreed to take on a heavier workload to get you trained. He’s the best, and he’ll get you up to speed. So please don’t worry,” Ohno explained. “Nino wouldn’t have brought you here if he knew you couldn’t do it.”

“I was…” Sho shook his head, Ohno’s hands still touching his face, smushing his cheeks together. “I _am_ an accountant. I’m an accountant in between jobs. I’m a thirty-five year old salaryman, for goodness sake. I don’t sing. And I only dance at weddings when I’m drunk…”

“You have a very handsome face, Sakurai-san, and that already gives you an advantage. Customers are very forgiving of men with handsome faces, I’ve found.” Ohno finally let him go, grinning. “Also, you can eat for free.”

Sho could smell a fresh batch of brownies coming out of the oven, the heavenly scent wafting into the corridor. He imagined spending the next few weeks trying every item on the menu, free of charge.

“Well…” Sho admitted, ignoring his logical side in favor of his rumbling tummy. He’d skipped breakfast today. “I’ll…I’ll do my best.”

“That’s the spirit,” Ohno said. “The doors open to our guests at noon. Now. Let’s see how good you look with a sword.”

—

Nino and Aiba were waiting for him at the top of the steps, eagerness on both of their faces.

“He told you that you can eat for free, didn’t he?” Nino teased, gesturing for Sho to follow them down the upstairs hall.

“I’ve tried everything,” Aiba explained. “At least twice. I have a spreadsheet on my phone to keep track of all my ice cream and topping combos.”

Nino patted Aiba’s shoulder. “This guy is every dentist’s dream,” he said. “Prince Masaki is what you might call a sweets addict. How many cavities did you have at your last check-up?”

“Irrelevant. I have great teeth.” He really did, Sho thought. Very…princely of him. “But it’s the calories that are the real danger. Which is why it’s good that I get to exercise on the job,” he pointed out, giving Nino a poke in his dragon-costumed arm. “I sweat the calories away!”

Sho was led into the locker room. There were cubby holes for each employee to keep their personal items, each of them marked with a piece of masking tape that had their name. There was a rack for coats, and Aiba held out a hanger so Sho could take his off and hang it. Then there was another rack full of outrageous costumes.

He told Nino his size, and soon Nino and Aiba were pulling items off of the rack that were currently not being used by any of the other Princes. It seemed like all of the outfits were Western in design, similar to the outfits a character might wear at Tokyo Disneyland rather than anything Japanese-style. Sho frowned at the heap of clothes they handed to him, and he frowned again when he wasn’t given much privacy. He stripped down to his boxers and socks to tug on his new princely persona.

There was a long-sleeved black shirt and a gray sleeveless tunic to wear over it that fell to just below his ass. Then there was a rather form-fitting pair of brown slacks, closer to leggings than actual trousers. Aiba found him a pair of black boots to wear that came to just under his knees. Nino attacked him next, pulling a black belt with a gold buckle around his waist and over his tunic. 

They tugged him over to the full-length mirror on the wall near the cubby holes. Sho cringed at the sight of himself. He had Nino in the flashy dragon costume to his right, Aiba in his bright green jacket to his left. “I think I come from a very poor kingdom,” Sho mumbled.

“Oh, I know!” Aiba exclaimed, rushing over to a set of plastic tubs that contained even more items. Hats and helmets, even chainmail. Aiba tugged out something red, flinging it into Nino’s hands and unearthing a long red piece of fabric. The fabric turned out to be a rather obnoxious cape, which Aiba pulled around Sho’s shoulders and clasped together with a gaudy gold brooch. Nino plopped the other red item right on Sho’s head. A red cap with a pointed end almost like a bird’s beak. It had a bright purple feather jutting out of it.

They turned him back to the mirror and now Sho was regretting having complained about the blandness of his costume. Because now he was wearing a cape. And a pointy hat.

“Red suits you,” Aiba said.

“And the hat distracts from how sharply angled your shoulders are,” Nino added, making Sho roll his eyes.

“Prince Sho!” Aiba cheered, and he and Nino both clapped.

He felt a little tougher when Aiba clipped something to the belt around his waist, hanging a leather scabbard from it. The added weight was surprising, and Sho eased the sword out from inside it, grasping it by its gold-colored hilt. Aiba tapped on the blade with his finger. It wasn’t steel, but it was still a hefty metal.

“It’s fake,” Aiba explained, grinning. “Prop sword. Since you won’t have to fight today, but you’ll still look brave.”

Thank god, Sho thought. He sheathed it back in the scabbard. He had to admit that even if the hat and cape were a bit much, it felt pretty cool to have a sword at his side. He turned a little, absorbing his new appearance, watching the cape flutter through the air as he moved. Well, at least he didn’t have to have a dragon tail trailing on the floor after him and…

“Lose the hat.”

Sho stopped moving at the sound of an unfamiliar voice. He turned around to find another man standing in the doorway, leaning against it and looking far from impressed.

Now this, Sho realized, this was a “Prince.”

He was a little taller than Sho, about the same height as Prince Masaki. But where Aiba was lanky and sparkling like a prince at court, this new person was broad-shouldered and battle-ready, looking like he might mount his horse at any moment to lead a charge. While Sho knew that his red cape and tunic and leggings were just a silly costume, this guy inhabited his outfit like it was his normal everyday wear.

He wore a dark long-sleeved indigo-colored shirt made of soft leather that accentuated his wide shoulders and stretched tightly around his upper arms. The low v-neck shirt was laced up in the middle of his broad chest, a thin white cotton shirt just peeking out underneath. He was wearing tight brown trousers tucked into knee-high black boots. A black leather sword belt hung around his waist, a sword with a silver hilt sheathed at his side.

And then there was his face. His hair was dark and shaggy, some of it seductively falling across his brow. His eyebrows were thick, his eyes big and striking much like the rest of his features. His pouty mouth completed the ridiculously aristocratic look he was sporting. This was a man who stood out in a crowd.

Sho meekly took the pointy hat off of his head, holding it nervously in his hands.

Sensing the odd change in the air, it was Prince Masaki who immediately set about calming things down. “Well, it’s about time you got here,” he chided the newcomer, marching over and poking him right in his leather-clad shoulder.

“How’s Toma doing?” Nino asked.

And all at once the stoic, too cool facade faded a little, the man entering the room properly, hand balanced on the pommel of his sword. “Oh I just got off the phone with him, he’s getting discharged tomorrow. He said the flowers we sent him were really cheesy. What a jerk.”

Sho blinked at the sudden change in demeanor.

“Sakurai Sho, let me introduce you to the Happy Fairy Princess Cafe’s number one requested Prince,” Nino said. “This is Prince Jun.”

Prince Jun held out a hand, and Sho shifted his dumb hat to his other hand so he could shake. The man’s grip was firm, solid, and Sho wasn’t sure if he was turned on right now or utterly petrified. Because while “Prince Jun” was quite possibly the most alluring creature Sho had seen in his entire life, he remembered what Ohno-san had said downstairs.

That the person he’d be apprenticing with here at the cafe was the number one requested Prince. And here he was in all his leathery glory.

“Matsumoto Jun,” the guy said, still looking at Sho a bit dubiously. “Thanks for filling in.”

“I…I like your costume,” Sho stuttered out.

“Thanks. I had it custom-made.” 

No wonder it fit him so perfectly, Sho thought, eyes drifting to the laces on the front of his shirt, imagining Matsumoto’s fingers tightening them. Or loosening them.

Aiba wrapped a friendly arm around Matsumoto’s shoulders. “You see, that’s why he’s the top star around here. He’s very dedicated to his job.”

Matsumoto rolled his eyes. 

“No, it’s true,” Nino insisted, moving over to stand on Matsumoto’s other side, tail dragging along the tile. Together he and Aiba crowded Matsumoto more than he probably liked. “Let’s see. Jun-kun here has a custom outfit.”

“Custom outfit,” Aiba echoed.

“Custom sword.”

“Custom sword,” Aiba said, tugging on the hilt of Jun’s sword to reveal a gleaming blade. Unlike Aiba’s thin, elegant rapier, Matsumoto was toting a broadsword the same as the one at Sho’s waist. Except his was real.

“And,” Nino said, “he’s the one who runs the show.”

Matsumoto looked uncomfortable, his ears turning pink. “I…I don’t do it myself…”

“No,” Nino agreed, “but Jun-kun designed all the lighting we use. He selected the music playlist. He hired Muro-san, who works in the special effects room. He writes our scripts…”

“I suggest scenarios,” Matsumoto protested, “it’s not the same thing…”

“And he’s the one who organized all our stage combat classes,” Nino bragged. “He’s a real superstar, this guy.”

“Nino, what happened to you being the best looking Prince in the kingdom, huh?” Aiba joked.

“Well, I still am. Jun-kun’s not stealing that title from this gorgeous face any time soon,” Nino insisted.

Matsumoto gestured to Sho. “Come on, let’s get you away from these two idiots.”

Aiba’s hand immediately went to his sword belt in mock challenge. “How dare you, sir!”

Matsumoto’s laughter was rather light considering how serious he seemed otherwise. Sho stumbled forward, throwing the red hat back in the direction of the costume tubs to follow Matsumoto Jun out of the room. He could hear Nino and Aiba’s laughter following them.

Matsumoto stopped them in the hall, the cool look returning to his strong features. “You don’t know what the hell you’re doing here, do you?”

Sho gulped a bit in surprise. “I…I really thought I was just coming here to wait tables. Nino didn’t exactly…”

Matsumoto sighed. “Look, this gig may be temporary for you, but it means a lot to the customers who come here. They come looking for an escape. And sugar. But mostly an escape. So for today, I want you to shadow me. Don’t improvise. Just observe. Get a sense for what is expected of you.”

“Okay.”

“What’s your specialty?”

“My what?”

Matsumoto grew impatient. “What are you good at? Like especially good? Our photos are on the cafe website and we list our special talents there too. Some Princesses are just looking for a face they like, others expect a little more. My special talent is push-ups.” 

Oh god, Sho thought, imagining Matsumoto on the floor doing just that, even dressed in his leather get-up.

“Prince Masaki’s is arm wrestling. Nino’s usually a dragon so he’s not often called upon to show off, but he can do card tricks. So what about you, Prince Sho? What can you do?”

Sho swallowed, seeing the intense look Matsumoto was giving him. If he wasn’t on the clock, ready to start his new job as Prince Jun’s shadow, he’d probably melt to the floor under the strength of that look. “I’m…an accountant.”

“That’s not a special skill,” Matsumoto pointed out. “That’s a job.”

“Okay,” Sho agreed. “Then…math, I guess.”

“Math,” Matsumoto repeated, stepping closer until Sho’s back hit the wall, his scabbard scraping against it. “You think some woman’s going to walk in here and ask you to do long division?”

Sho frowned. “I can play the piano?”

“We don’t have a piano,” Matsumoto replied, his voice deepening in irritation. 

Why couldn’t Ohno have assigned him to work with Nino? Or Aiba? Why this intense guy? It was only a temporary assignment…why did Sho have to deal with this anyhow?

“I can…rap.”

Matsumoto raised an eyebrow. “Really?”

“Yeah, um, I may be an accountant, but I’ve always had a thing for hip hop music. I have fun writing my own raps.” Matsumoto was a bit too close, and Sho was having a hard time focusing. The guy smelled so good, a fresh and woodsy scent that was as different from the smell of the baked goods in the kitchen downstairs as he could get.

“Love poetry.”

“Huh?”

Matsumoto finally, mercifully backed off. “If you can rap, you can rhyme. And if you can rhyme, you can write love poems. That’s what we’ll put on the homepage.”

“Great,” Sho mumbled, imagining himself stumbling through a sappy poem. “Wonderful.”

“Let’s get started.”


	2. Chapter 2

The others hadn’t been lying - Prince Jun was insanely popular with the “Princess” customers. Sho could have sworn that women were swooning as he walked by.

The cafe had twenty tables, and there were usually six or seven Princes on duty. That meant that a Prince only had to divide his attention between a few tables at a time if the restaurant was full. But with Prince Toma absent and Sho completely new and unable to handle a table himself, he and Prince Jun were already manning six different tables during the lunch rush.

In addition to Prince Masaki and Prince Jun working that day, Sho had also been introduced to some of the restaurant’s younger royals in the employee lounge. The short but shining Prince Ryosuke with the angelic face. The young but incredibly flirtatious Prince Kento. The “bad boy” Prince Taisuke. And the awkward intellectual Prince Shigeaki. It seemed that most of the Princes fulfilled a certain kind of character type, offering variety for their guests. 

Prince Masaki filled in the role of the friendly, easygoing Prince. And apparently Prince Toma, he of the emergency appendectomy, had been an older, more mature version of Prince Kento. As for Prince Jun, he was the aloof one. The cool one who might seem difficult to approach but was actually just as loyal and brave as any other.

As Sho followed Prince Jun around the restaurant like a hopelessly needy pet, he wondered if the guy was really acting or if he was just playing himself. One “Princess,” a middle-aged woman in a sparkling tiara, had been shy and giggly, especially when Prince Jun knelt down before her, quietly and reverently kissing her hand before asking what she’d like from the “palace kitchens.” 

Matsumoto was a quick thinker, introducing Sho as “Prince Sho, who is visiting from a neighboring kingdom.” Matsumoto would smile, and Sho would then bow, making sure the sword strapped to him didn’t smack anyone walking behind him as he moved. Then Matsumoto continued. “Prince Sho is still learning our customs here. We hope you’ll be patient with him.” The women Prince Jun waited on seemed doubly pleased to have two Princes doting on them, so they didn’t seem to care that Sho would leave their tables desperately whispering the order back to himself so he wouldn’t forget it.

When the Princes weren’t fetching orders, they stood guard by their tables, alternating their patrols if there were multiple tables to cover. Sho was able to observe various strategies. If a Princess came alone, Prince Masaki usually sat down at the table with her, chatting merrily like old friends as they talked over the menu together. Prince Kento openly courted his Princesses, asking if they’d wear his favors — little colored scarves he pulled from inside his pink tunic and handed out. Prince Taisuke stuck his finger in the whipped cream of one of his Princess’ desserts, sticking it in his mouth and winking, making the women he was serving collapse into excited giggles.

But the actual order-taking and small talk was not the only thing. 

He and Prince Jun were standing side-by-side in the kitchen, Matsumoto watching closely as Sho keyed in Princess Kumiko’s rather complicated order for a three-scoop ice cream sundae with one vanilla bean scoop, one chocolate fudge scoop, and one apple cinnamon scoop topped with maraschino cherries, banana slices, hot fudge, and chocolate whipped cream. Sho was just about to hit enter, sending the order directly to the ice cream station in the kitchen, when he felt Matsumoto’s hand on his shoulder.

“It’s almost 1:00.”

“Okay…” What did that mean?

“You should probably just watch from the doorway.”

Sho put in the order, a little confused, but then there was fanfare, horn music piping throughout the cafe as Matsumoto straightened his posture, heading directly to the “arena” floor. Sho went through the swinging doors, staying close by, pressing himself to the wall and hoping none of the other guests wondered why the weirdo in the red cape wasn’t joining the other Princes.

He watched in awe as the fanfare changed to a rather lively pop song. Each Prince removed his sword belt with a flourish, setting them at the edge of the arena floor, presumably so they didn’t injure themselves or each other. With colorful lighting, including a spotlight aimed at the arena, and the claps of all the guests, the six Princes got into formation, singing along with what Sho now knew to be the Happy Fairy Princess song. It was like watching an idol group perform.

The Princes danced, some obviously stronger at it than others. Sho wasn’t surprised to see Prince Jun dead center, his movements elegant and graceful. The six voices joined together - although they were far from professional singers, they all sang passionately. “Today it’s all for you, our dearest Princesses,” they sang without a hint of irony. “We’ll keep you safe from harm, let us make your dreams come true!”

There was more dancing, and Sho wondered how the hell he was going to learn this. He sang at karaoke occasionally but the dancing…

The song ended with Prince Kento stepping forward, a rose suddenly appearing in his outstretched hand. He winked and the cafe lights came back on fully, the women sitting around the restaurant squealing and cheering, calling out the names of their beloved Princes. Sho could only stand against the wall, unable to picture himself among them, doing the same strange dance, singing the same cheesy lyrics with such conviction.

“Did you hear that?” Prince Taisuke shouted in an exaggerated fashion, and Sho discovered that the song and dance thing at the top of the hour was only just the beginning.

“It sounded like…danger!” replied Prince Ryosuke, hurrying to where they’d all left their swords, pulling out a thin blade similar to Aiba’s.

Each of the men did the same, drawing their weapons. They stood at the ready, and then there were shocked noises and a few soft cries as the lights flickered. And then there was that growling noise, the one Sho had heard that morning.

“I know that sound!” Prince Shigeaki cried. “He dares threaten our kingdom!”

Prince Jun moved right to the front, sword at the ready and determination in his eyes as a spotlight shone down, bathing him in strong light. 

“Come on out, Stormy! It’s time we vanquished you for good!” Prince Jun shouted, his firm and commanding voice dominating the entire room. 

Sho fell in love right there and then, the same as any Princess in the room, stifling a smile as his new co-worker stood there with his weapon drawn. Oh god, how was he going to make it through this temporary assignment?

There was an array of scary, crashing noises, the lights flickering again. And that’s when Sho looked down, seeing smoke. He nearly took off running for the fire alarm, but soon realized that it was just dry ice coming through and under the swinging doors. Nino…well, Stormy the Dragon came through the double doors in a rage, his paws up, growling at the nearest table.

“You fiend!” Prince Masaki cried. “You leave Princess Mina alone!”

“Princess Mina” and her two friends at the table Nino had just threatened collapsed into embarrassed giggles at the way Prince Masaki called them out by name. Stormy continued to stalk around the cafe, hissing and growling at more tables. He managed to get someone’s spoon out of her grasp, flinging it off into the corner and growling. It earned a few hearty laughs. Sho had to admit that Nino was a very entertaining villain.

Finally Stormy made his way to the arena, and the choreographed attack began in earnest. It seemed that in today’s storyline, Prince Masaki and Prince Jun were in charge of battling Stormy. The other Princes departed the arena, choosing one of their assigned tables, defending it with their swords out in front of them, each of them vowing to their Princesses that they would not let Stormy come close.

Sho was transfixed by the battle that started. Just like Nino and Aiba’s mock fight from earlier that morning, everything was perfectly choreographed. Nino moved swiftly, darting between the two of them even with his cumbersome tail, narrowly escaping a skewering from Prince Masaki’s rapier, ducking his head to avoid a powerful swing of Prince Jun’s blade. 

But at last Stormy’s efforts came to an end, Prince Masaki stepping on Stormy’s tail, keeping him from slithering away. In the low lighting and with the dry ice still permeating the room, Jun’s strike looked so realistic that Sho gasped, but he could see that Jun’s sword had landed under Nino’s arm. Jun pulled the blade free, and Stormy let out a moan of anger. This time he detached his own tail, earning more noisy laughs especially from the youngest Princesses in attendance. Taking his tail in his hands, Stormy fled with a pathetic howl.

Prince Jun and Prince Masaki shook hands, and the room broke out with even more applause. Eventually the lights came back on, and all of the Princes sheathed their swords. While the Princes checked on their customers, Sho stood nervously as Prince Jun instead came directly up to him. 

His hair was rather tousled from both the Happy Fairy Princess performance as well as the lengthy swordfight. A bead of sweat was sliding lazily down the side of his face, and Sho was transfixed by it.

But Prince Jun didn’t seem to notice Sho’s distress or how Sho had fallen head over heels for him after only an hour or two of knowing him. Instead, Matsumoto grabbed hold of Sho by the edge of his cape, tugging him along.

“Come on,” he said, still catching his breath after the battle. “We need to get that three-scoop sundae.”

—

The restaurant kept to a very strict schedule. Lunchtime hours ran from noon until 3:00 PM. The staff was then given a break. The cafe reopened for dinnertime hours of 5:00 to 9:00 PM, though Sho wouldn’t describe the food offerings at the Happy Fairy Princess Cafe as technically being “lunch” or “dinner” but only overindulgent dessert.

The “performance schedule” was much clearer in Sho’s mind now. During the lunch hours, the idol group performance and the fight against Stormy happened at 1:00 and 2:00. And in the evening, there were three performances at 6:00, 7:00, and 8:00. But you’d never know the Princes had given the same performance multiple times. Their dancing was always sharp, their fight choreography smooth. They rotated fighters throughout the day, and Sho had gotten to watch Prince Jun fight Stormy three different times.

Sho was a bit tired from being on his feet all day even though he hadn’t been forced to sing, dance, or fight yet. He changed in the locker room, bidding farewell to the other Princes who had been very kind and welcoming to him so far, even if Sho didn’t feel much like one of them yet. Once back in his own comfortable clothes, he found Nino sitting in the employee lounge next door. 

Since Nino was the cafe’s sporadically-appearing villain, he spent most of his time working behind the scenes assisting Muro-san in the special effects room, going back and forth to the dry cleaners with costumes, or putting orders together in the kitchen. Sho sat down beside him on one of the sofas, feet aching. He’d worked in a cubicle for years and years, and he wasn’t used to walking around so much - especially in a cape.

“Prince Sho, you’ve made it through your first day,” Nino cheered him, patting his leg. “Congratulations!”

He shook his head, still a bit overwhelmed. “I don’t know if I’m cut out for this, Nino.”

Nino smiled at him. “What? You were great.”

“If ‘great’ is now a synonym for ‘screw-up,’ then maybe so.”

Sho had been such a nuisance to Matsumoto-san, especially as the day dragged on and the dinner crowd had arrived. He’d called a Princess by the wrong name. He’d almost dropped a milkshake in a guest’s lap, letting it fall to the floor and splatter instead. And then he’d caused an order back-up in the kitchen when he couldn’t remember if a Princess had wanted lemon curd on a slice of raspberry cheesecake or raspberry curd on a slice of lemon cheesecake. Matsumoto had forced him to go back out into the restaurant to beg forgiveness and ask for her to repeat her order. If he couldn’t even get the serving part right, how was he going to be able to add fight choreography and a song and dance number to his list of responsibilities? All this for only a temporary gig!

“Nice work today.”

Sho looked up, spying Matsumoto Jun standing in the doorway just as he had earlier that morning. But his bespoke costume was gone, and the overly intimidating aura had lessened quite a bit now that he was in an ordinary purple wool coat, jeans, and a knit hat, a bag slung casually over his shoulder. It didn’t make him any less handsome.

“Thank you for being patient with me,” Sho said quietly, inclining his head.

Nino wrapped an arm around Sho. “When does training camp start?”

“Training camp?” Sho mumbled.

Matsumoto grinned gently. “I suppose that’s up to Prince Sho. But I was planning to get here at 9:00 tomorrow.”

Sho blinked. “Training…wait, you mean my training camp? The training for me? The training camp is about me?”

Nino laughed. “Well, talking is definitely not your special skill, is it, Sho-san?”

He blushed. “Sorry.”

Matsumoto looked at him with an easygoing calm. He seemed a lot softer without tight leather hugging his body or a sword at his side. “Don’t worry, you’re not going to be cleared to sing with us until I say so. We’ll start dance choreography in the morning, some basic fight choreo during the afternoon break.”

Sho felt embarrassed about all the extra work he was giving Matsumoto. And maybe even more embarrassed about how much time they’d be spending together in addition to their regular work. Hours and hours with those intense brown eyes focused on him…

“I’m sorry to take so much of your free time…I don’t want to be a burden…”

Matsumoto dug around in his bag, making Sho jump in fright when he tossed something across the room. A CD case landed perfectly in Sho’s lap, the disc inside labeled “Happy Fairy Princess.”

“Your homework, Sakurai-san,” Matsumoto declared. “I look forward to hearing you sing it tomorrow. Have a good night. See you, Nino.”

“Night,” Nino said, waving as Matsumoto headed out for the night.

Sho held the CD in his hand, tracing his fingers over “Happy Fairy Princess.” Well, he was now as far from accounting as he could get.

—

Sho discovered that he’d been added to a LINE group for all the Princes. He suspected Nino was behind it. He woke up the next morning to a slew of encouraging messages from the others who apparently couldn’t wait to see him join their dance party.

Matsumoto had sent Sho a message in the group chat as well, though it was more practical than congratulatory. “Please wear clothes you can move in comfortably.”

This time he entered the Happy Fairy Princess Cafe in a pair of cozy sweatpants and a t-shirt under his coat. It was only a minute after 9:00 and already there were lights shining down on the arena floor. Matsumoto Jun was in the restaurant alone, dressed in comfortable sweats of his own, sitting on the floor and stretching.

“Good morning, Matsumoto-san.”

Matsumoto looked up, grinning. “Morning.”

Sho headed through the swinging doors, greeting Ohno-san and the rest of the kitchen staff. There seemed to be a buzz of excitement in the air, and it all seemed to revolve around Sho’s pending choreography lessons. Ohno followed Sho up the stairs, dusting his hands on his apron.

While Sho hung up his coat in the locker room, Ohno watched him with a gentle smile. “You look so worried,” Ohno teased.

Sho frowned. “You’re sure I can’t be of more help to you in the kitchen?”

“I designed the choreography for this,” Ohno explained. “It’s not as hard as you might think.”

“You designed it?” Sho asked in surprise. “Why aren’t you a Prince then too?”

Ohno’s smile was kind. “I started this cafe about six years ago. My niece inspired it. She was going through a princess phase at the time, so it convinced me to make the cafe into more than just a place for sweets. Something a little more special. Jun-kun was the first person I hired, and I let him design all the performance stuff. The lighting, the music, the interior design of the cafe, I left that all up to him. He’s good at that stuff, as you probably have already figured out. But he asked me to come up with the dance since everything he came up with was too complex for the other guys.”

Ohno leaned forward, patting Sho’s shoulder.

“So I think you’ll pick it up just fine. If I can do it, and I’m just your average chef, then I think an accountant will be okay too.”

“I’ll do my best.”

But Sho needed a bit more than the head chef’s encouragement to get through the rest of the morning. The other Princes arrived, politely ignoring their practice, walking around the arena floor to head to the locker room. Sho felt like he had two left feet as Matsumoto got to work on teaching him. When Matsumoto told him to move his right arm, Sho moved his left. When Matsumoto told him to move his left arm, Sho moved his right. 

The dance steps really did seem easy when Matsumoto demonstrated them, playing the Happy Fairy Princess song on a boombox so he could start and stop as needed. He even slowed the pace down, patiently explaining the choreography move by move. He clapped out the beat, timing to Sho’s pace. It was when Sho nearly tripped over his own sneakers during a spin that Matsumoto finally turned the CD player off.

Sho stood there, hands on his hips, sweat pouring down his face, shaking his head in disappointment. “You can say it,” he wheezed. “You can say it, it’s alright.”

Matsumoto, despite having been dancing all this time, had barely broken a sweat. “And what do you think I need to say to you, Sho-san?”

Sho looked up, moving a sweaty strand of hair out of his eyes. “That I’m terrible at this.”

“Okay,” Matsumoto said, having a sip from his bottle of water. “Tell me this. When was your last dance lesson?”

Sho was confused. “I’ve…I’ve never had a dance lesson in my life.”

“And yet here you are, working your ass off. You obviously know the song because even if you screw up the moves, you’ve been moving correctly to the beat. You’re shaky and uncertain, you’re a bit stiffer than any thirty-five year old ought to be, but you’ve already picked up more than you think. So of the two of us standing in this room right now, only one of us thinks you’re terrible.”

Sho was glad his face was already reddened from exertion, from utilizing muscles he rarely used in this way. He didn’t need Matsumoto to catch him blushing at his too kind words.

“I just want to be able to keep up,” he mumbled.

“Then stop feeling bad for yourself and keep working at it. It’s only your second day, Sho-san, I’m not throwing you to the wolves.”

He chuckled. “Or to the dragon.”

Matsumoto smiled at that. “The afternoon will be even harder than this, just so you know.”

They spent another half an hour going through the choreography before it was time to get changed. Sho’s legs ached as he climbed the stairs. He’d almost forgotten that he had an entire workday ahead of him, and he groaned. At least there were a few shower stalls to use in the employee bathroom, and he washed his sweat away before changing back into his costume.

It didn’t feel as strange today walking around with his bright red cape, the prop sword tethered to his side. This time while Matsumoto and the others performed, Sho was surprised by how much easier it was to follow along with what they were doing. Standing back against the wall and out of the way, he nodded along to the song, mouthing the words that he’d stayed up the night before memorizing. This performance, Prince Taisuke and Prince Ryosuke fought against Stormy the Dragon, and Sho couldn’t help watching the ease of their movements. It was clear that these guys worked hard, practiced hard.

At the second afternoon performance, Sho paid closer attention to the guests, watching the smiles and cheers of the Princesses. Despite all his misgivings, despite his lack of confidence, Sho couldn’t help feeling jealous of the other Princes. He wanted cheers of his own. All of a sudden, he wanted to know what it would feel like for some pretty young woman to scream and cheer for “Prince Sho” while he was lashing out with his sword. 

It was all too easy to get wrapped up in the performance, in the fight. And Sho realized that that was all thanks to Matsumoto Jun. Ohno had explained that so much of this was thanks to Jun. The lighting, the sound, the fight sequences. How many hours had Matsumoto devoted to this cafe? How hard had Matsumoto worked to ensure that every single guest left with both a full stomach and a smile on her face?

As slow a learner as Sho was, he couldn’t help feeling like he needed to make Matsumoto proud.

So instead of beating himself up for his inexperience, he went into the afternoon break with determination. Unlike his lack of dancing experience, at least he’d been involved in the kendo club in high school. So when Matsumoto started drilling him on movements, it came far more quickly to him. He could tell that Matsumoto was only operating on a fraction of his true ability, but as their prop swords clashed, Sho could see that Matsumoto was impressed with what he managed to accomplish in a matter of hours.

By the time 5:00 rolled around, Sho’s muscles were still sore but he didn’t really mind it. He took the stairs two at a time to go back and change into his costume, waiting for the others to clear out before he stood in front of the mirror. He was tired as he posed there, taking in the sight of his tunic, belt, cape…

“Prince Sho.”

He turned, seeing Prince Masaki standing in the doorway with a cheerful smile.

“Looking good! What a difference a day makes,” Aiba said. “Come on, let’s go serve some cake.”

—

It was his fifth day on the job, and he was the last one in the locker room for the night, hanging up his costume for Nino to get laundered, tilting his neck and hearing it crack. He groaned softly, his body sore from the many hours of training he’d been taking on in addition to the regular cafe hours.

Tomorrow, Prince Sho would join the official line-up for the performances. He’d practiced the dance choreography that morning with all of the other Princes. Kindly, Jun had ensured that Sho was standing all the way in the back behind Prince Shigeaki, whose long green cloak might mask any of Sho’s mistakes while they danced. The other guys had even been impressed with Sho’s progress.

But of course, Sho really owed his success to his all too exacting dance instructor.

Sho still felt like he was under Prince Jun’s enchantment, shadowing him from table to table during their shifts, watching up close as he whispered gentle vows of loyalty to Princesses, pressed his soft and supple lips to their hands. Sho wasn’t the most romantic sort, but he couldn’t help wondering if Prince Jun was planning to give him any training in that regard…

He picked up the boombox that they used during dance practice, taking it with him into the empty lounge and plugging it in. The Happy Fairy Princess song CD was still inside it, and he sat down on the sofa, setting it on repeat.

“Today it’s all for you, our dearest Princesses,” he sang, shutting his eyes and directing his vocals to the ceiling. “We’ll keep you safe from harm, let us make your dreams come true!”

He tapped out the beat, sneakers bouncing against the floor. Without opening his eyes, he visualized himself on the arena floor, standing right behind Prince Shigeaki, smiling his brightest smile. Even if Sho missed a few steps, Jun told him that the one thing he was forbidden to mess up was his smile. He knew he could manage that at least.

The song finished, starting all over. He started to sing again. It was a lot easier to sing when he wasn’t moving around, but Jun said he could lip sync if he needed to focus more on his dance steps. At least to start. By next week, Jun expected Sho to be able to do it all himself. Jun’s surprising faith in him was what had gotten him through the week.

Also, getting to watch Jun’s ass in his tight pants while they performed helped him, too.

“And there’s no tower too high for me to climb, and dragonfire scares me not. I love to see you smile…”

The door to the lounge opened, and Sho jolted a little. The CD kept playing as Sho saw an apologetic Matsumoto Jun standing in the doorway. Despite his usual seriousness, there was a soft smile on his lips, a sheepish nod as he lifted up a knitted scarf.

“Forgot this in the locker room,” Jun admitted. “I’m sorry for bothering you.”

Sho sat up straight, scratching the back of his neck nervously. “It’s…it’s not a bother.”

Jun’s eyes were kind. “You’re actually a very good singer, Sho-san.”

“Oh? Thanks.”

“You’re practicing?”

Sho looked away. “I’ve been staying every night…”

Jun’s eyes widened. “Really? But you’ve been getting here every day…”

“…at 9:00, yeah.”

Sho was rewarded with the smile Prince Jun seemed to save for his performances. The really amazing one. “You’ve really gotten better, haven’t you? Now you just have to get better at remembering the ice cream flavors and you’ll be perfect.”

He laughed. Just that evening he’d mistaken a hazelnut toffee crunch scoop for a peppermint chocolate surprise scoop. “Maybe that will be my special skill. Forgetting ice cream flavors.”

That afternoon, Nino had had Sho pose for his picture for the website. Even though he thought it was unnecessary for the cafe to promote him on the website since he only had a few weeks more on the roster, Sho couldn’t help being the slightest bit proud when he saw the final image. He’d been wearing the red pointed cap with his usual costume, holding a large shield and one of the real swords. Ohno-san had come up to assist, turning on a fan so that Sho’s cape billowed behind him. Once the photo was taken, Nino had used photo editing software to provide a real castle as a backdrop. Sho had to admit that he looked like anything but a mild-mannered accountant. He actually looked kind of cool.

His special skill was the one thing he hadn’t managed to practice yet — love poetry. And he hoped he wouldn’t get many requests for it.

Jun’s voice roused him from his thoughts.

“I drove today so um…if you need a ride home…” Jun offered, making Sho’s heart race. “Nino mentioned the other day that you live near Sengawa Station and since I’m in Komae, it’s not a big deal. But um, I mean, please keep practicing if you need to practice…”

“I’d love a ride,” he said, barely holding it together.

“Great. Well. I’ll let you finish the song. I’ll be downstairs.”

Sho was a bundle of jumpy nerves as he shut off and unplugged the boombox, buttoning up his coat and settling his hat on his head. Though it hadn’t even been a full week, he’d spent hours and hours at Jun’s side. And apparently Jun wasn’t sick of him yet if he was willing to take him home.

During choreography lessons the other morning, Nino and Aiba had sat in, watching and cheering Sho on. While Jun had taken a bathroom break, the two troublemakers had gotten on the topic of marriage and dating. One of the Princesses had brought a ring to the cafe the other day, begging Prince Taisuke to propose to her with it. Taisuke had let her down gently, but a line had been crossed, leaving the Princes aiming to tone down their romance just a tad. The line between the world of the cafe and their personal, private lives.

Aiba was planning to propose to his girlfriend soon enough. Nino was also in a serious relationship. The two of them had sat there gossiping about almost all of the other Princes and their love lives before turning to look at Sho.

“And what about you, Sho-san?” Aiba had asked.

“There’s no Princess in my life,” he’d admitted. “Well, it’s not quite what I’m looking for. You see…I…I’m…actually…”

“Ah,” Aiba had said apologetically once Nino elbowed him in the side. “Sorry.”

Before Sho could laugh, tell Aiba there was nothing to apologize for, he saw the twinkle in Nino’s eye. “You’re not the only one around here hoping that someday their Prince will come…speak of the devil…”

And that was when Jun had come back, stretching his arms over his head, his shirt lifting to show a teasing glimpse of his abdomen. Apparently he hadn’t overheard the conversation, but when Sho had quickly looked away from the alluring pull of Jun’s bare skin, he’d seen knowing, almost triumphant looks in both Nino’s and Aiba’s faces.

Sho couldn’t help thinking about that conversation again as he walked downstairs to the cafe kitchen, pulling on his mittens. Even if Jun was gay and looking for someone to date, it didn’t mean someone like Sho was his type. He just hoped Nino and Aiba wouldn’t say anything unnecessarily.

He found Jun chatting with Ohno, who’d just handed him a bag of leftover treats to take home. Ohno smiled when Sho approached.

“Ready for your big day tomorrow?” Ohno asked, a small dollop of chocolate at the corner of his mouth. With his round face, it was pretty clear that Ohno-san enjoyed sampling his own baking. Sho couldn’t blame him. Everything he’d tried that week was incredibly delicious.

Sho chuckled. “I’m only doing the song. I’m not ready to join the fight yet.”

“But he will be. Probably by Tuesday,” Jun vowed. 

Though Sho’s dance choreography wasn’t totally perfect and that was apparently okay, it was the fight choreography that had to be error-free before Jun would let him take on Stormy the Dragon. Tomorrow was the big day, Sunday, when the real magic happened. It was the day that Stormy’s defeat ended in a puff of smoke, with Prince Kazunari emerging from his curse. Nino would then join the Princes for all of the dinner performances, taking on tables of his own to give Jun and Sho a break.

“Have a good night then,” Ohno said. “Drive safely.”

Sho followed Jun to the small parking lot near the cafe, finding Jun’s hatchback and getting inside. Jun handed Sho his phone, letting him key in his address to the GPS. From there it was a quiet ride through the Tokyo night lights, the radio tuned to a soothing jazz station. People all around were socializing, out on the town for a Saturday night, but it was obvious after their long day of waiting tables and rehearsing fight choreography that all they wanted was to get home.

When they came to a red light, Jun spoke first.

“Do you like it?” he asked softly. “The cafe?”

Sho looked over, but Jun’s focus was entirely on the road ahead. “It’s…not what I expected when Nino asked me to fill in. But I’m having fun.”

Jun grinned. “I’m glad. You’re a fast learner.”

Sho assumed that his having experience with kendo had helped too. “I just feel bad that you had to overwork yourself all week even though I’m only on staff temporarily.”

Jun nodded in understanding. “It was worth it. I know I’m kind of particular about things. About the performances and the fight sequences and all that, but I just think every guest deserves the best experience possible.”

The light turned green and Jun accelerated. Sho found himself looking aside, watching Jun’s graceful fingers tap the steering wheel. 

“It’s really impressive, you know,” Sho told him. “All the effort you’ve put in. It’s above and beyond your average maid or butler cafe. I’ll have to tell my sister about it…”

Jun chuckled. “What do you mean you’ll tell her? You haven’t already told her?”

“I’ll tell her as soon as Prince Toma returns and Prince Sho goes back to his home kingdom. If she came now she’d just request me and force me to wait on her hand and foot. Younger sisters can be annoying as hell,” he joked.

Jun’s smile faded a little. “Well…you don’t have to go back to your home kingdom right away. I mean, it’s been really busy lately so even when Toma comes back…” Sho heard him sigh. “I’m just saying, you know, in case you don’t find an opportunity to use your special math skills right away…”

Sho didn’t know how to respond, feeling suddenly warm in the car even though the heat was on the lowest setting. Was he hearing him correctly? Jun wanted him to stay at the cafe? Well, it wasn’t necessarily his decision to make. It was Ohno-san’s. But still, it felt good to be useful.

It felt good to be wanted.

“I’ll think about it,” he mumbled. “Thanks.”

Instead of just dropping him at the train station, Jun drove him right to his apartment building, parking along the curb. He looked over, those dark eyes of his just about enough for Sho to drown in if he looked too long.

“You’re not the first person I’ve trained,” Jun admitted. “I do want you to know that not everybody passes the test. We’ve had trainees come in thinking they could use our cafe to pick up dates or make easy money. And even though this is temporary for you, you haven’t acted like it. You took it seriously, Sho-san. Thank you.”

“You still have time to change your mind about me passing your test,” Sho said. “Once you see me dance with everyone tomorrow.”

“I guess you’re right,” Jun teased. “Anyhow, I won’t keep you. Sleep well. Don’t think that just because you’re officially debuting that we’re not going to keep training during the afternoon break.”

Sho’s face fell. “Oh?”

Jun laughed. “See you tomorrow.”

Sho got out of the car with a gentle wave, watching as Jun drove away. He headed inside, feeling almost light despite the odd pressure that was on him to do well with the performance. Somehow he felt that if he just followed what Jun had so diligently taught him, he’d at least look halfway competent.

He rode the elevator up with hopeful feelings, whistling the Happy Fairy Princess song.


	3. Chapter 3

His dance debut could have been far worse, Sho decided when he made his way over to one of his tables, guarding his Princess as Stormy entered the dining room in a haze of dry ice and flickering lights. He’d spun the wrong way during the second chorus and had fumbled the lyrics a bit in his nervousness, but otherwise he’d gotten through it.

Which was good, since he’d have to perform it four more times that day.

He held his sword out as he’d practiced, waiting for that day’s special performance. In the first Sunday fight against Stormy, the two Princes on duty would chase him all the way back to the changing booth where the young woman from the hostess stand would trigger another dry ice machine. Nino would do a quick change in the booth, emerging in a flash wearing his Prince Kazunari costume: a simple blue sleeveless tunic over a long-sleeved white shirt with tan trousers and brown boots. 

Unlike the other Princes, Prince Kazunari was a gentleman rogue character who preferred to defend himself with a dagger sheathed close to his hip. Since Stormy was defeated, the rest of the Sunday performances involved exhibition battles between the Princes set to adventurous music. Nino was probably happy for a break from his cumbersome costume and tail.

Sho watched Prince Masaki and Prince Shigeaki chase Stormy around the room before they headed off for the lower level of the cafe and the changing booths.

“Wait!” Jun shouted, defending a table just across from Sho. “He’s no mere dragon!”

“You may be right!” Prince Ryosuke cried. “There’s something about him…something almost…”

“…human!” Sho said loudly, finishing Ryosuke’s statement and spouting the only line that he’d been asked to rehearse. He looked across the cafe quickly, seeing Jun trying to hide a smirk at his acting ability, such as it was when he only had to say one word.

“Perhaps he’s under a curse!” Prince Shigeaki declared, holding up his shimmering blue sword. “Let me cast a banishment spell!”

The lights in the cafe turned into a blur of color as Prince Shigeaki held his sword aloft. “I cast the evil out!” Prince Shigeaki shouted. “I cast the evil out!”

The dry ice kicked in and in moments Nino emerged, staggering around, human once more. “You’ve freed me!” he cried, stumbling up to the arena. Sho moved away from his table, joining the other Princes. “It’s me, Prince Kazunari! For too long I’ve been under a witch’s spell.” Nino moved to the middle, delivering his lines with gusto. He met Sho’s eyes, offering him a quick wink of encouragement. “Thank you, all of you, Princes and Princesses alike, for extinguishing the darkness in my soul.”

The restaurant erupted into cheers as the full lights came back on, the Princes bowing before returning to their duties. Nino walked back with Sho, tugging on his cape. “I watched the dance from upstairs.” There were monitors in the special effects room recording every performance. “You did really good, Sho-san.”

Sho blushed. “Thanks,” he said as Nino pulled away, heading to sneakily gather up the Stormy the Dragon costume, hiding it in one of the carts used to clear the tables.

Sho had a bit of a close call going through the swinging doors, nearly knocking Prince Taisuke and his tray full of sundaes over, but aside from that the rest of the lunch shift went smoothly. And when it came time to give the second performance of the day, Sho found himself smiling bigger, gesturing larger. He might have missed a move or two, but with the room full of clapping Princesses cheering them on, he found it all too easy to keep going.

When the cafe closed, the last of the lunch Princesses having moved on, the lights in the cafe flickered and Sho was confused.

But then it was Prince Kazunari and Prince Masaki holding the swinging kitchen doors open while triumphant music played. To Sho’s amazement, Ohno-san came through pushing a cart, all of the kitchen staff behind him. Ohno wheeled the cart to the arena floor, and the other Princes tugged on Sho, dragging him forward.

It came as a complete surprise when Sho looked at the cart, finding a cheesecake that had been decorated elegantly with a strawberry glaze…a strawberry glaze drawn in the shape of a red pointed hat. Beneath the cheesecake were a line of several chocolate squares, each of them bearing a single English letter, spelling out “GOOD JOB PRINCE SHO.”

“Congratulations are in order for our Prince from a distant kingdom!” Prince Kento cried, voice carrying throughout the cafe. “For the best debut performance we’ve had!”

“At least since the last debut anyhow,” Nino teased.

He brought his hand to his mouth in shock, hearing the staff’s applause all around him, seeing Ohno smile and clap his hands with a knowing smile. Sho received hugs from Nino and Aiba, but as he looked around the room, seeing happy faces, faces that were proud of him (even though all he’d done was perform the song twice and say ‘human’ once), he noticed that someone was missing.

Once Sho had thanked everyone, Ohno declared that it was time for the Princes and staff members alike to share in the cheesecake. Aiba handed Sho two slices. Initially, he thought that he was meant to bring a slice upstairs to the special effects room for Muro-san, but here the man was, joking around with some of the kitchen folks. So there really was only one person missing.

With everyone gathered around enjoying their sweets, Sho excused himself, taking the two cake plates and forks through the double doors. Even if it was technically a celebration about himself, he had a feeling that Ohno just wanted an excuse to make everyone indulge. Nobody followed after him as he moved through the archway, climbing the stairs.

He found Jun all alone inside the special effects room, sitting on the floor cross-legged watching some footage on one of the monitors. As Sho drew closer, he could see that Jun was rewatching the scene from earlier, Sho’s very first performance with the group of Princes for the Happy Fairy Princess song.

“I brought you some cheesecake,” he interrupted, not wanting to stand like a creep in the doorway for long.

“Congratulations,” Jun said, scooting over a little so Sho could join him on the floor. He accepted the plate with a quick thank you before rewinding the footage.

“Why didn’t you come down for the party?” he asked. “Although I don’t know if I’ve done anything so great to even warrant a party. I totally spun the wrong way, and I think I was a second behind on some of the moves and…”

“You were fine,” Jun said quickly. “Totally fine. It’s the Stormy bit that’s the problem.”

Sho sat and watched, enjoying every indulgent bite of his cheesecake. As Jun watched and rewatched the footage, he explained to Sho what he didn’t like about it. Sho watched Nino disappear into the changing stall with the dragon costume on, but the dry ice wasn’t rising high enough to obscure his movements entirely. When Nino pulled open the curtain to get inside and change clothes, the Prince Kazunari costume hanging from a hook inside the booth was plainly visible to anyone on that one side of the restaurant. 

“It ruins the illusion,” Jun complained.

“Well, I mean the script pretty much implies that he’s been cursed and he’ll transform back into a human,” Sho replied. “So the clothes already being there…”

“I don’t like it,” Jun interrupted coldly. “We need a trap door.”

“A trap door?!”

Jun nodded. “The illusion of a trap door, anyway. Nino can crouch down, a hydraulic lift bringing him down through the floor where he can change clothes and then emerge again in a fog of dry ice transformed. It would certainly be more interesting than watching him vanish into a changing booth.”

“That sounds expensive,” Sho pointed out.

“Well, perhaps when I pitch the idea to Ohno-san you can get creative with the math and help me sell it as a worthwhile investment in the cafe’s future.”

Sho grinned, amused by Matsumoto’s concern over such a minor detail. “Accounting is about accuracy, Matsumoto-san. Not creativity.”

He earned himself an eye roll in reply, and he couldn’t help laughing.

Over the last week, he’d learned something vital about Matsumoto Jun. The man was never fully satisfied. Even though he had Sho’s training taking hours out of his day, still he was always making tweaks to the performance side of the cafe experience. Changing a line of dialogue here, adjusting a lighting angle there. Always looking to provide the guests with a more interesting, immersive show.

Following him around the cafe, Sho had also observed Jun in perfect Prince mode. Since there were so many different guests, it might be more logical to have a cache of flirtatious or loving lines to recite depending on the occasion. And yet he’d never heard Jun say the same thing twice. He tailored his performance each and every time for each and every Princess he encountered. His diligence was both impressive and endearing. The guy was the top request in the cafe for a reason.

Jun gestured at the screen with his fork emphatically. “Hydraulic lift, Sho-san. I’m telling you. Wouldn’t just have to be for Stormy. We could do all sorts of things. We could use it to propel a Prince into a big jump, make the start of a battle more dynamic.”

Sho smiled. “Do you ever run out of ideas?”

Jun simply shook his head. “Nope.”

Sho took another bite of his cheesecake, desperately keeping his feelings in check. It was rare that he let a crush consume him so quickly, but then again, not every crush was as attractive or hardworking or just plain interesting as the man beside him.

“I think your real challenge is getting me ready for battle,” Sho pointed out. “Perhaps the hydraulic lift can wait.”

“Alright then,” Jun said, pressing stop on the replay and getting to his feet. He held out a hand, his brown eyes almost sparkling with his ever-present enthusiasm. “When I’m through with you today, you’ll probably be able to take on a real dragon, much less Ninomiya’s scrawny ass in a costume.”

Sho grabbed hold of Jun’s hand, allowing the other man to tug him up. But Jun used a little more strength than necessary, almost like Sho had on his first day pulling open the cafe’s front door. Sho held on to his cake plate with one hand, momentum knocking him right into Jun.

They stood like that for half a dozen breaths, bodies almost pressed up against each other. Sho found himself staring at Jun’s mouth, the sensual curve of it, the tiny moles he had just above and below his lips. Jun still hadn’t let go of his hand, his gentle breaths warm against Sho’s cheek. Ah, what the hell were they doing?

Sho backed away first, his fingers slipping from Jun’s. He cleared his throat, busying himself by taking his fork and shoving a too-large bite of cheesecake in his mouth. “Let’s finish our treats and get moving,” he said around his mouthful of rich cheesecake, feeling foolish.

Jun, shy and hesitant for what felt like the first time, took a step back. The tips of his ears were pink. “Right. Sugar first, battle second.”

—

Stormy entered the cafe with his usual growling, the lights flickering and the music filling the room. As Prince Kento and Prince Taisuke prepared to duel with the dragon, Sho glanced over and saw a potential problem.

The table just behind Sho’s, one of Jun’s tables, had a mother and young daughter sitting to watch the performance. But as soon as the lights had started to flicker, the little girl had started to panic. From a glance, Sho had a feeling the girl wasn’t more than four or five years old. It was mentioned on the website that there would be blinking lights and loud noises during the performances, but it was up to a parent’s discretion whether their child could handle it. Apparently this little one was still a bit too young.

Sho stayed where he was, sword at the ready, as the battle got underway. But he could see Jun slowly moving away from one table and in the direction of his youngest guest. With Jun’s commitment to the performance, the way he moved across the room, sword out, seemed almost as though it was planned.

Nobody seemed to be looking in the direction of the quietly panicking child, and Jun sheathed his sword, smiling at the mother and crouching down beside the daughter. The swordfight against Stormy raged on, but Sho frowned when he saw that nothing Jun was doing seemed to be working. Any moment now, the little girl was liable to scream or cry. And the last thing the performers needed while they were battling with real weapons was that kind of noisy distraction.

Sho made a split-second decision, gently sheathing his sword and resting a hand on his Princess’ shoulder. “Won’t you please excuse me, Your Highness,” he whispered, inclining his head in the direction of the child. “This looks like a two-man operation.”

His own Princess chuckled warmly, and Sho hurried off through the darkened cafe, swords clashing in the background. He could see that Jun’s normal calm had faded, and he was desperately trying to distract the little girl, holding her tiny hand in his. But Sho had a brother several years younger than him. He’d been a teenager when his brother was this age, and Sho had spent plenty of time watching over him. Sometimes a distraction simply wasn’t enough.

Sho swooped in, crouching down on the little girl’s other side. She was adorably dressed in a shimmering pink dress, her eyes swimming with unshed tears. “Hello, Your Highness,” Sho whispered, stroking the little girl’s cheek, drawing her attention away from Jun. “Won’t you come on an adventure with me today?”

When another loud clang of the swords brought impressed gasps from the crowd, the little girl started to cry. Without thinking, without asking Jun, he gave the mother a quick nod and lifted the little girl into his arms, holding her close to him. As her cries grew more noticeable, he gave her a squeeze, moving off with her and away from the table. 

“Just hold on to me! We’re going on an adventure!” Sho promised. “Just hold on tight!”

She clung to him, and he hurried off, going through the kitchen doors and into the stairwell. Once he had her on the second floor, he let her sit down on the top step. While the battle raged on in the dining room below, he sat down beside her. She sniffled, her cries having calmed once she was away from the dark and scary fight sequence.

“My name’s Prince Sho,” he said quietly, letting her stay close to his side. “What’s your name?”

“Mari.”

“Hello Princess Mari, I’m so glad you came here today.”

“It was scary,” she mumbled, her small fingers desperately clutching Sho’s sleeve.

“I’m so sorry. Dragons are really scary, aren’t they?”

She nodded. 

“But let me tell you a secret, Princess Mari. Soon enough the fight will be over. The dragon will go away.”

“He won’t come back?”

Only if your mother is foolish enough to keep you here past the 2:00 performance, Sho thought, holding in a smile. “No, he won’t come back. So you’ll get to stay at the table with your mom and have some treats. What has Prince Jun brought you today?”

“A brownie with ice cream and sprinkles.”

“Wow, I bet that tastes super yummy.”

She sniffled, wiping her nose with the sleeve of her pretty pink dress. “Yeah, Prince Jun bringed out…he bringed out a whole thing of sprinkles. A big thing. He gave me a spoon and he let me put as many sprinkles as I wanted.”

“Prince Jun is nice, isn’t he?”

“Yes. My mom says he’s sexy.”

Sho coughed, trying not to laugh at the little girl’s blunt comment. Thankfully he didn’t have to come up with a response to that because Jun came through the double doors, looking up the staircase at them.

“Princess Mari,” Jun said, getting down on one knee. “I’m glad you’re safe.”

“Hi.”

Sho hid a smile behind his hand.

Jun placed his hand against his heart. “Please forgive me for not being able to keep you away from danger. I’m so terribly sorry to have hurt your feelings.”

“It’s okay,” Mari answered, finally detangling herself from Sho. “Prince Sho helped me.”

Jun looked up, meeting Sho’s eyes. He looked overwhelmingly guilty, though Sho wasn’t sure why. “Yes, he knew exactly what to do, didn’t he?”

“Princess Mari was telling me about the sprinkles.”

Jun gallantly walked up the stairs, holding out his hand. “Then we want to make sure she gets to gobble up as many as she wants.”

Mari accepted Jun’s hand and they walked down the stairs together. Sho followed a few moments behind, back into the bustling cafe to check on his tables. One of his Princesses gave a tug on his cape when he walked by.

“You’re good with kids,” she whispered to him, giving him a knowing look. “I bet you’d be even better handling ours someday.”

“All part of the job, Your Highness,” he said with an overexaggerated bow, deciding not to address the second part of her comment.

Once Princess Mari and her apologetic mother left, the rest of the shift went without a hitch. While the staff cleaned up the dining room, Jun pulled him aside, standing with him on the emptied arena floor while the other Princes headed for the lounge.

“I’m sorry, Sho-san.”

Sho was confused. “For what?”

“She was the youngest guest I’ve ever had to deal with. The teen girls, the housewives, the aunties…” Jun shook his head. “I can handle those kind of Princesses, no problem. But I’m not around kids a lot. You totally saved my ass in there today. I…I panicked, I didn’t know what I needed to do.”

Sho waved him off. “If she cried really loudly, Nino or Kento or Taisuke might have been distracted. I didn’t want anyone to get hurt. Getting her out of there fast just made sense to me. I’m sorry if I overstepped my bounds.”

“Overstepped? Sho-san, you prevented outright disaster.” Jun sighed. “All I could think to tell her was that I’d get her another brownie…what an idiot…”

Sho almost couldn’t believe Jun was that down on himself over this. The number one requested Prince. Wasn’t he allowed to make mistakes? “You’re perfect 99.9% percent of the time around here, Jun, I wouldn’t worry about it.”

And almost as soon as the words were out of his mouth, Sho regretted saying them. Or more like he regretted being so overly familiar. He’d known Jun for just over a week and he was already addressing him so informally…

Jun rested a hand on his shoulder, and Sho froze. Jun’s eyes were serious, his smile heartfelt. Apparently he hadn’t found Sho’s use of only his first name to be rude or out of the ordinary. 

Jun locked on to him, their eyes meeting. “Thank you. Really.”

“No problem,” he mumbled, feeling Jun squeeze his shoulder before letting go.

“Okay, back to work. Well, back to practice,” Jun said, clapping his hands and dissolving the odd tension in the air. “I’ll go get Nino. Let’s run the sequence again.”

Sho stood there, a bit dumbfounded, wondering how the hell he was going to get through his first battle when all he could think of now was the way Jun had just looked at him.

—

Nino passed Sho the tube of pain relief gel. Prince Sho had gotten through a full week of fights, battling once or twice a day. Though they mostly practiced in slow motion to get all the footwork right, the actual performance had to be quick and daring. A lunge here, a parry there. All with the lights flickering and intense music distracting his senses.

As part of the choreography, Sho leapt in the air as Stormy the Dragon turned, forcing Sho to hop over his swishing tail. Another part required him to swing hard enough to take Stormy’s head off, though Nino expertly ducked right on time. Sho was thirty-five years old, and while he did muscle training and jogged at his usual gym, this kind of workout was just as bad as the dancing, forcing him to use muscles he barely paid attention to before starting at the Happy Fairy Princess Cafe.

He rubbed the gel onto his back, sighing happily at the cool feeling on his skin. He’d bent a bit funny during one of the afternoon song-and-dance performances, and he was still feeling the sting. He didn’t know how Jun and the others had been performing like this six days a week for years now.

But the worst of all might have been the love poems. Although not everyone requested their Prince in advance through the website, Sho’s addition to the cafe had brought out some poetry lovers. Freestyling had never been his specialty, so most of his love poems for now were simply borrowed. One Princess didn’t seem to mind him half-reciting, half-singing Mr. Children lyrics at her. Another had nearly started to cry (happily) because Sho read a love poem that the woman herself had composed for the occasion.

The more personal the “fan service” Sho provided for the Princesses, the more he understood what seemed to motivate all the other Princes. The women who visited the cafe really were more than customers, and seeing them smile made Sho feel good about himself. As much as his old job had contented him, it couldn’t quite compare to this.

He was relaxing on one of the lounge sofas, letting the gel do its magic, when his phone rang with a number he didn’t recognize. His fingers were still slippery, and he barely managed to answer before it went to voicemail.

“Hello, this is Sakurai Sho.”

“Sakurai-san, good afternoon,” a woman greeted him. “This is Sakaguchi Yoko calling.”

Sho’s pulse started to race. Now here was a call he hadn’t expected to receive. Not wanting to disturb the other relaxing Princes, he headed into the empty hallway. “Sakaguchi-san, hello. It’s good to hear from you again.”

A month after he’d lost his job, he’d managed to snag an interview at a top accounting firm, even though he knew they were only looking to hire entry-level talent. After a month of not hearing anything, he’d assumed that he was out of the running.

“It so happens, Sakurai-san, that another position has just opened up that is more in line with your level of experience,” Sakaguchi-san explained. “After your interview with us several weeks back, it was very unfortunate that we could not bring you into a second round. My superiors asked that we keep your file on hand. So if you are still available, we welcome you to participate in the interview process for this new position.”

Sho could barely keep the phone steady in his hand. “Yes. Yes, of course, I’d love to!”

“Excellent! We’ve got a bit of a quick turnaround on this, I’m afraid. I’ve got two slots open right now. I have this Friday at 1:00 PM or 4:00 PM. Will either of those work for you?”

His mouth went dry. On Friday, the cafe had been specially booked from 11:00 AM-3:00 PM for a private event, a bachelorette party. Already Jun had developed a brand new scenario, a champions fight tournament that all the Princes were participating in. 1:00 was right in the middle of the party, and if he took an interview at 4:00, he’d be late coming back for the dinner shift.

Not to mention how tired he’d probably be after the party, needing the break period between shifts to relax and recover.

“Only 1:00 or 4:00 on Friday?” he repeated.

“Yes, I’m afraid so.”

Given the firm’s reputation, Sho knew that there was plenty of quality talent out there who would take his interview place in a heartbeat. As good as he was, he probably wasn’t the only person Sakaguchi-san was calling that afternoon. 

He had to make a decision now.

He heard footsteps, turning around to see Jun was standing there in his costume, having changed back into it after having a shower. How long had he been standing there?

“You should take the 4:00,” Jun whispered, still towel-drying his dark hair.

Sho’s eyes widened.

“Sakurai-san, are you still there?”

He looked at Jun curiously. “What?” he mouthed. “The party!”

“Take the 4:00,” Jun insisted, expression utterly serious.

“I’m sorry, Sakaguchi-san, I’m just so excited by this news. Please schedule me for this Friday at 4:00 PM.”

“Thank you, Sakurai-san. We look forward to speaking with you again.”

Sho ended the call, lowering his phone and looking at Jun in confusion. 

Jun smiled. “Congratulations.”

He shook his head. “But the party…we’re all doing our part and…”

Jun stepped forward, resting a hand on either of Sho’s shoulders, looking at him seriously. “You’re going to the interview. It’s a job you really want, right?”

He had trouble meeting Jun’s eyes. “I have responsibilities here…”

“You didn’t answer my question.”

He felt his face growing warm under Jun’s scrutiny. “Yes, it’s one of the largest firms in the country. It would be an amazing next step for my career but they only hire the best people so it’s probably a long shot…”

“So that’s that,” Jun decided for him. “You’re going. You’ll use that Prince Sho charm and win them over. Long shot, my ass.”

Finally he was able to look up, meeting Jun’s warm brown eyes. “I’m sorry…this will inconvenience you. It’ll inconvenience everyone.” Realization struck. “I didn’t even ask Ohno-san for permission to go…”

“Sho. Stop.”

And stop he did as soon as he heard his own name fall so easily from Jun’s lips. Not Sho-san. Not his silly Prince Sho moniker. But Sho.

“Your real kingdom is calling you,” Jun teased, finally letting him go. “So don’t worry about things here. I’ll still make you work, but you’ll get out of here on time. That’s a promise.”

“Thank you,” he mumbled shyly.

“I owe you one anyway,” Jun said breezily, rubbing at his damp hair again as though nothing between them had changed. “After the Princess Mari incident.”

Unable to say anything else to Jun without the likelihood of embarrassment, Sho excused himself, heading downstairs to inform Ohno of his interview. 

“Ah, that’s wonderful!” Ohno cheered. “I’m sure you’ll get the job.”

He was only a middling dancer, he could kind of sort of carry a tune. He hadn’t managed to stab anyone yet mid-fight. But why did these people have such faith in him anyway?

“I’ll do my best,” he said.

Ohno wrapped an arm around him, likely getting a handprint of flour on Sho’s t-shirt. “We’re all rooting for you.”

Sho hoped their cheers would make a difference.

—

He turned off the shower, hopping out of the stall in a rush. Jun had kept his promise, making things work out perfectly. Sho had participated in the fighting tournament, just like they’d all rehearsed, but Jun had reordered the sequence. Sho’s fights had come earlier rather than later, and when he was defeated by Prince Kazunari and his quick dagger, he’d been able to slip away during the next fight.

It was 2:45 and the party was winding down as Sho quickly changed into the suit he’d brought from home. It was a bit of a shock now when he got a look at himself in the mirror. It had been about three weeks now where he’d look in the mirror and see a man in a red cape and a dark tunic looking back.

This time, a boring cookie-cutter salaryman was staring back. 

He grabbed his briefcase, heading down the stairs with a nervous stomach, his grip tight on the handle. He headed for the kitchen exit, receiving quiet cheers from other members of the kitchen staff, Ohno included, while they boxed up leftovers for the party guests to take home.

Sho was just to the exit when he heard his name. He turned, seeing Jun coming through the double doors, charging forward in his costume, face glistening perfectly with sweat after his scripted tournament victory.

“I’m driving you,” Jun insisted. “No need to wait for a train.”

“I don’t mind taking the train and…”

“Just wait here,” Jun said anyway, holding out his hand. “Just...I’ll come right back.”

True to his word, Jun took off running even as the party was still dying down out in the cafe. Less than a minute later, Jun came thundering down the stairs. He’d thankfully left his sword belt behind, but he was still in costume, jingling his car keys in his hand.

“Alright, let’s go.”

“You’re going to drive me around wearing that?” Sho asked, chuckling. “It’s broad daylight out there, you know. People will think you’re…”

Jun smiled. “Think I’m what? Crazy? They’ll probably be more concerned for you, the guy in the suit being chauffeured around by a guy dressed like me.”

“Don’t be late!” Ohno chided them, tapping his hand on the countertop. “Get the hell out of here already!”

Together they hurried for Jun’s car. Although there was some traffic, Jun was calm. Which had the helpful effect of calming Sho down as well. He felt comfortable sitting beside Jun, far more comfortable than he’d have been on a packed train, stuck with his worries and anxiety about the interview.

These last few weeks, Matsumoto Jun had believed in him. Even though losing his job had not been any fault of his own, Sho had been floundering, anxious, desperate to find a place back in the comfortable world he was used to. And yet somehow he’d ended up at the Happy Fairy Princess Cafe, his familiar accounting programs and spreadsheets replaced by sword fights and dance moves. As jarring a transition as that had been, from the very start Matsumoto Jun had encouraged him. Pushed him.

Their time together had been short, all things considered, but the last three weeks had been some of the most enjoyable of Sho’s life.

It was 3:40 when Jun found a spot to park only a block away from the office building. Sho looked over, still amused by the sight of Jun in all his leather-clad glory. “Thanks for the ride, Your Highness. I’ll do my best to be back in time for the 7:00 performance.”

Jun said nothing, watching him with a soft smile.

“Anyhow,” Sho said, filling the odd silence. “I’d better get moving.”

But before he could reach for the door handle, Jun was in his space. Sho could still smell his sweat, the scent lingering a bit on his costume since he had been in such a rush to drive Sho here. He barely had a second to take a breath before Jun had his hand around the back of his neck, pulling him close.

Jun’s lips were so soft, his mouth was so warm. The taste of him was indescribable. Stunned for a moment, Sho eventually gave in, kissing back, stroking Jun’s cheek with his thumb. But he’d only just accepted the reality that was Jun kissing him (Jun _kissing_ him!) when it ended, Jun pulling away with a nervous expression.

“For luck,” Jun mumbled.

“Okay,” Sho exhaled, his hand dropping into his lap.

“Okay,” Jun repeated.

Sho reached for his briefcase. “O-kay.”

He fumbled with the door handle, getting out of the car, slamming it behind him without another word. He didn’t dare look back, straightening his posture as he started to walk. He heard Jun’s car pull away, and Sho finally managed to breathe again.

A kiss for luck, Sho mused. He walked through the door of his potential employer with a dopey smile on his face and a spring in his step. 

—

Everyone gathered around, Sho discovering that celebratory cheesecake was a more common occurrence than he’d anticipated. Ohno led the applause and cheers before slicing in to the rich, whipped cream-topped dessert. Today was Prince Toma’s first day back at work, and it was definitely worth a cheesecake party during the afternoon break.

While the friendly, joking Prince Toma had been cleared by his doctor to wait tables, it would be another week before he was allowed to dance or to fight. Sho’s temporary gig would continue another week, not that he would be hurting for money much longer.

His interview had been on Friday, and he’d sat in a lineup of five people all competing for the same position. And yet by Wednesday, yesterday, Sho had been called back with an official offer of employment. Apparently his story about how he’d overcome an obstacle in a work environment (enduring hours of fight combat training in order to challenge a colleague in a dragon costume) had endeared him all the more to the hiring committee. He was no by-the-book salaryman, or so Sakaguchi-san led him to believe when she’d called with the great news. The Happy Fairy Princess Cafe had helped him, not hindered him, in reaching his goals.

Sho, halfway through his second slice, soon found a meddling Prince Kazunari to his left and a prying Prince Masaki to his right. They crowded him, as they were so fond of doing after he’d given in to their snooping and told them (in the strictest confidence) about recent developments. 

“Looks like somebody’s missing,” Prince Masaki noted, giving Sho’s red cape a teasing tug.

“Probably reviewing that disaster of a fight,” Prince Kazunari added, lifting the plate of cheesecake Sho was enjoying out of his hand and replacing it with a fresh slice and a fork. “I bet he’s hungry. Maybe he won’t yell at us as much if he’s got some sugar in him. From the cheesecake or perhaps some extra special sexy sugar from…”

Sho rolled his eyes, interrupting. “Subtle.”

Enduring their playful snickering, Sho took the plate and headed for the swinging doors, leaving Prince Toma’s rowdy welcome back party. He took the stairs up and although the door to the special effects room was wide open, Sho pushed it closed behind him when he saw that Jun was sitting on the floor, legs crossed, reviewing the monitors all by his lonesome.

Jun looked up at the sound of the door closing, sitting there in a state halfway between dressed and not. The usual leather was gone, leaving him in only the soft white cotton shirt he wore underneath. It emphasized how broad his shoulders and chest were all the more, the shirt unbuttoned halfway to his navel, untucked lazily from his slacks. Sho wondered if Jun had anticipated his arrival, undoing a few buttons more than his usual.

Sho set the plate down out of the way, leaving it near the mixing console. He turned back, walking over to Jun and holding out a hand.

Jun stubbornly ignored it, watching through the rest of the performance. Prince Taisuke’s cloak had fallen off halfway through the last fight against Stormy and Nino had tripped on it. He’d accidentally pressed the button inside the paw of his costume, jettisoning Stormy’s tail early and without anyone having touched it. It had been funny in the moment, but Nino could have hurt himself when he slipped. Sho expected everyone to receive a very stern lecture before the dinner shift started.

But Jun was finally satisfied, pressing pause and accepting Sho’s hand to pull him up. They looked at each other for a few moments, breathing in and out, Jun raising an eyebrow suggestively as though daring Sho to make the first move for once. 

And so he did, leaning in to capture Jun’s mouth with his own.

“What the hell kind of cheesecake is that?” Jun murmured against his lips, breaking their kiss after the first taste of him.

“Ohno-san said there’s rum in it. And banana.”

Jun shook his head, sighing, pressing a soft kiss to the corner of Sho’s mouth. “The stuff he can’t put on the normal menu. Typical.”

They stood there for a while, kissing. Starting slow, unfocused, but escalating as soon as they found themselves unable to keep their hands to themselves. Sho slipping his hands under Jun’s shirt, fingertips dancing up his spine. Jun’s fingers detaching the golden brooch, letting Sho’s red cape fall to the floor. They’d eventually have to stop, rejoin the party. Nino and Aiba could only delay Muro-san from getting back to work for so long.

The cafe was closed on Mondays, and that coming Monday was going to be Jun and Sho’s first official date. The agenda thus far did not include eating any dessert, although after the last few exciting days, Sho had a feeling that they wouldn’t have any problems filling the time together.

Things would probably change once Sho started his new job, but with a little convincing from Jun (much of it involving his unsurprisingly skillful mouth), Sho was considering a new possibility. He’d work at the new firm from Monday-Friday, but the Happy Fairy Princess Cafe was busiest on weekends. Perhaps there was still a place for Prince Sho on a Saturday lunch shift here, a Sunday dinner shift there. Sho wouldn’t commit to anything just yet, but the thought of fighting Stormy with Jun by his side held quite the appeal.

“Now,” Jun finally said, not moving too far, resting his forehead against Sho’s as they both focused on trying to get their breathing back to normal. “This is probably the third day I’ve asked you.”

Sho smiled, tracing his fingertips up and down Jun’s back. “Yep.”

“When am I going to get to hear your love poetry, huh?” Sho bit his lip, moaning softly when he felt Jun’s hand slide down to cup his ass. “I want to see the special skills you’ve got, Sho-san.”

Monday’s date seemed so far away.

“I don’t know, I’m fairly certain the Happy Fairy Princess Cafe website lists your special skill as push-ups and I’m still waiting for a demonstration. So I’ll show you mine…if you show me yours.”

Jun leaned back, his eyes just as striking as the first time Sho had seen them. “Sounds like a plan, Your Highness.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Sho repeated softly before leaning in for more.

**Author's Note:**

> I had some specific costumes that inspired me when writing about our wonderful Princes ;)
> 
>  **Prince Masaki / Richard Madden as Prince Kit in Cinderella** : [HERE](http://toptenbangkok.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/123161_gal2.jpg).  
>  **Prince Kazunari / Flynn Rider in Tangled** : [HERE](https://a.dilcdn.com/bl/wp-content/uploads/sites/25/2014/12/Quiz-Tangled-Lyrics-Rapunzel-Flynn-See-You.jpg).  
>  **Prince Jun / Josh Dallas as David (Prince Charming) in Once Upon a Time** : [HERE](http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/onceuponatimeroleplay/images/7/70/Prince_Charming.jpg).  
>  **Prince Sho / Prince Phillip from Sleeping Beauty** : [HERE](http://static4.comicvine.com/uploads/original/10/105264/3858002-5278985696-sleep.jpg).


End file.
